Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-06-26
DAILY HERALD.
THE ST. LOUIS RIVER FRONT,
The first B0as-HOw the City
WAS saved.


was saved.
The curious pranks of the great riv er
that sweeps past this city have always
been viewed with suspicion and alarm
by the government engineers and mu.
nicipal authorities. When St. Lonis
was small town the river made bold
and almost successful attempt to cut
new channel three miles east OF its pres.
ent course. The effect of this would
have been to leave the city "high and
dry" and it is to The active intelligence
and engineering skill of Lient. K. E.
Lee that the city owes its present bar
Dor.
The Mississippi forms semi-circle
about st. Louis, and the territory thus
inclosed has q water frontage OF four
teen miles, says st. Louis correspond
ent of the Nashville Union. The levee
extends from Carondolet on the south
to the water works on the north, along
the entire water front Of the city. Only
about five miles of it is improved. and
this portion is directly in front of the
business part of the city. The site of
st. Louis was originally succession of
natural terraces, reaching back two
miles from the river. Then the ground
sloped downward and was cut up by
deep ravines and covered with numer'
Gus ponds. The river front in
the vicinity of the present bridge
was originally high bluff,
and the early inhabitants had moth.
ing to fear from high water. This bluff
has been cut down tor miles and its base
transformed into a levee. The street
directly facing the water was called
Front street, but now. since its glory has
departed, it is known as the Levee. The
improved portion OF the 81. Louis levee
is an inclined plane, paved with stone,
extending from the street level to the
water. The distance from the apex to
the water depends on the mood of the
river. The plane is paved fully 300 feet.
and the water is in very low stage
when the bed below the paving is ex-
posed. As stated, this inclined plane
extends for nearly five miles in front of
the business portion, and the improve
ments cost $1,000, 600.
1t is on this levee that the remnant OF
the great river business that made the
city is now transacted. River traffic has
now dwindled to about 10 per cent. of
its ante bellum volume. The gold and
glory in steamboatng has vanished. and
now old river men spend most of their
time describing the Augustan age of the
steamboat ON Western waters, the period
rom lS45 to 1860.
The first steamboat that arrived in st.
Louis was the Zebuion M. Pike in 1917.
T., 1910 &Ia troIa had n
such huge proportions that 346S boats
arrived in the harbor. la 1859 more
steamboats, arrived in st. Louis than in
New Orleans, Cincinnati and Pittsburg
combined. The Missouri river trade was
then an item of vast Importance, and
there was half dozen we'll equipped
lines on that river. To-day there is
one line. Railroads killed the river
business, and by building up the Wes-
tern cities almost throttled the trade of
st. Louis.
The Missouri bank of the Mississippi,
almost the entire length of the State, is
one chain of bluffs. The Illinois side,
from Alton to Cairo, is fiat and low, and
between these two towns lies the fam
Gus American bottom. The cottoms vary
from three to six miles in width, from
the low bank of the river to the eastern
bluffs, and are 200 miles long, contining
10000, 600 acres of the most fertile soil
in the world. The river, especially in
the vicinity of st. Louis, is inclined
to sweep over these acres, and 10 protect
them great dikes and levees have been
constructed on the eastern bank. Di-
rectly in front of this was once a IA
nous island, called "Bloody Island" on
account of the many fatal duels fought
there. 1t was there Senator Thomas II.
Benton killed Charles d. Lucas, and ex-
Governor Thomas Reynolds, who recent
ly committed suicide, shot B. Gratz
Brown. This island was in the course
of the river, and as the current flowed
toward the Illinois side the people of
the city arose one morning in 1897 and
and found sand bar extending from
the Missouri side to the island, and
almost the whole volume OF water fow-
ing between Bloody Island' and Hi
nois. The government was ap.
pealed to, and Lieut.. Robert
Z. Lee was sent out here in
charge of the works. He constructed
dikes on the Illinois shore end at the
head of the "Bloody Island" and grad.
ually turned the water back toward the
st. Louis side until the sand bar was
washed away. and afterward the entire
river was thrown over against the city.
"Bloody Island" is now portion of the
main land, and the greatest part of East
st. Louis is located on it. Baked at
this roint the river cut into Illinois be-
low the city. In 1855, Fort Cnartres
was one mile and quarter directly east
from the river bank. To-day the river
runs over the spot where the old fort
skn